Yoga For Low Back Pain: A Science-Based Approach

Yoga has a great reputation for helping back pain, but here’s yoga’s dirty little secret: most group yoga classes are absolute murder on the back, and can often do far more harm than good! Traditional yoga stretching can provide short-term symptom relief, but at the cost of exacerbating the underlying causes of chronic back pain. What if improved strength, stiffness and stability in our spines is what we need to lead more pain-free lives, NOT arbitrary ‘flexibility?’ Yoga For Low Back Pain, written by a former group yoga instructor who once found himself debilitated by yoga-induced chronic back pain, explains in easy-to-understand detail the science of back pain—based on years of research by Dr. Stu McGill and his world-renowned Spine Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Waterloo—and provides the blueprint for a home-based individualized yoga practice that offers you a path out of chronic back pain. Instead of focusing on arbitrary flexibility, the focus of this course is on strength, endurance,  stability, and appropriate mobility. Yoga can offer lasting relief from even the most debilitating lower back pain, but only if practiced wisely, and that wisdom cannot come from blindly following traditions and gurus and pre-set one-size-fits-all posture sequences. This book will provision you with the knowledge you need to understand your pain, and will give you all the tools you need to construct your own individualized home yoga practice. A practice based on years of research into the science of back pain. A practice rooted, fundamentally, in your body’s innate wisdom. This revolutionary program features over twenty carefully-chosen and researched postures to choose from. Each chapter contains precise, easy-to-follow instructions and step-by-step photos to help you master each pose. In addition to pain reduction and the calming, meditative benefits of a yoga practice, this course will also enhance your athletic performance whilst helping you sculpt a leaner, more powerful physique. (All you need to get started is a yoga mat, but a kettlebell is helpful as well, as they are utilized in several poses due to the unique benefits they provide for back-pained individuals.)